Lawyers Have Heart Event History

Lawyers Have Heart is the premier athletic philanthropic event led by the greater Washington DC legal community and brings together more than 300 organizations and over 6000 runners and walkers in support of the American Heart Association. Since 1991, Lawyers Have Heart has raised over $12 million for AHA and each year is one of the largest 10K races in the Washington D.C. area. The event has a fundraising goal of $1.2M for the American Heart Association in 2018.

Founded in 1991 as a 10K race by two DC attorneys, Richard Frank and Alan Raul, each year the event unites the Greater Washington legal community in the spirit of Pro Bono Publico (for the public good) to change the heart health of the region. In 1990, when Washingtonian magazine published as its cover, “Kill All the Lawyers,” Richard Frank decided to take action to improve the public image of lawyers by creating LHH. Frank recruited Raul, then General Counsel to the United States Department of Agriculture, to assist him in the endeavor. As a longtime runner whose father was afflicted with heart disease, Frank saw the race as “a double good” – to raise money for the AHA and “show that the Washington legal community has some heart.”

In 2010, Lawyers Have Heart added a 5K fun run/walk to the event and appeared on the cover of Washington Lawyer in January, 2017 for its leading role in Washington legal community pro bono efforts. In 2018, the race added a sponsored prize money feature to further raise the profile of the event, increase elite runner participation, and grow fundraising for the American Heart Association. The event expects more than 6000 runners in 2018.

The 2020 Impact Goal of the American Heart Association is to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent, while reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20 percent, by 2020. The Lawyers Have Heart 10K Race and 5k Fun Run/Walk puts this mission goal into action by getting Washingtonians active– running and walking are two of the most heart healthy activities!

The 10k Race and 5k Run/Walk is open to the entire Washington, DC community to participate and support!